Quiz

1. Who gets the money when a claim is made on your life cover?

1. My spouse
2. My kids
3. The owner of my policy
4. It depends on my will
5. None of the above

When you make a Life Insurance claim the lump-sum payment will be made to the policy owner, or if the policy owner has died, to their estate. When the policy is first issued the person who is insured is also the owner of the policy. If you want to change that, you need to use our ‘change ownership’ form. For a mortgage, income protection or funeral cover policy any payment will be made to the nominated beneficiary in the policy document.

2. Can I make changes to my life cover?

1. Yes, but only if my circumstances have changed
2. Yes, any time I want to
3. No, If I want to change anything I have to cancel my policy and start again
4. I don't know

Yes you can make changes to your policy. We’ve got lots of details about making changes to your policies in our Customer Support Section on our website. There you’ll find all the details around increasing and decreasing your cover, special event increases, changing the owner of your policy, making a claim and more.

3. To increase my cover I need to ... (there could be multiple correct answers)

1. Apply online
2. Have a form sent to me to fill in and return
3. I can't increase my cover
4. I don't know

To increase your cover, we’ll usually have to ask you for updated health details, but for life cover, if you recently married or divorced, became a parent, or took out a mortgage, you might be eligible for our special events increase.

If you have income protection cover with us, if you let us know within 60 days that your income has gone up, we may be able to give you a proportional increase without additional information.

Funeral cover cannot be increased so if ou need more cover than what you have with this type of policy, please contact us to discuss your options.

You can request a quote by applying online or by calling us.

4. Why do your premiums go up each year? (Tick all that apply)

1. Because Pinnacle need to keep up with competitor pricing
2. Because I'm more likely to die as I get older
3. Because my cover increases with inflation so my premiums go up too
4. I don't know

There are two correct answers to this one.

Your cover, and therefore your premiums, are linked to inflation so they will go up each year. You can turn this off at any time by contacting us.

Premiums are based on age, gender, smoking status and mortality rates. On a statistical basis the chance of a person dying at a certain age changes each year. When you are younger there is a point where premiums actually decrease each year as the chance of dying accidentally, drops. Unfortunately as you get older premiums then increase. The amount which they increase varies from year to year.

We are happy to offer life cover with a premium that is fixed for five or ten years – or we can fix your premium and reduce your cover. You can contact our office to discuss this.

5. When will Pinnacle Life pay out your life cover? (Tick all that apply.)

1. When I die
2. When I get diagnosed with a terminal illness
3. When I get sick
4. When I ask
5. I don't know

If you die you will get paid the lump-sum amount you chose when you took out your policy. This is tax-free. If you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness and expect to live less than 6 -12 months (depending on your policy) you can have the lump-sum paid early.

6. Before you can make a life cover claim you need a copy of the death certificate. How long does it take to get one?

1. a couple of days
2. about a week
3. at least a week but probably longer
4. I don't know

You can apply for a death certificate through Births, Deaths, and Marriages.They may take up to 8 days to process, so even if you pay for an overnight courier it may take over a week to arrive.

7. If you don't make a claim, can you get your premiums back?

1. Yes
2. No
3. Just some of them
4. I don't know

Life cover doesn’t expire, so as long as you keep paying you’ll be covered.However if you cancel your policy you are no longer covered and you don’t get any premiums back.

8. If you had to make a claim, what would be your top priority for the money?

1. Pay off the mortgage
2. Pay for the kids education
3. Pay for general ongoing expenses like groceries and bills
4. Nothing specific, would just make life easier
5. Other (please specify)

There is no right answer! Whatever is important to you is the right one.

If you have any more questions you’d like answered either about Pinnacle Life, Life Insurance or your policy check out our website or get in touch by emailing us at ask@pinnaclelife.co.nz or phoning on 0800 22 22 23